Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) has recently made inroads on the 3-D assessment of vessel wall anatomy. 3D reconstructions of the entire vessel segment can be performed from cross-sectional IVUS images. Such images help the physician to identify locations of pathology, as well as to evaluate the progression or regression of atherosclerotic disease. Typical IVUS scan specifications include a frame rate of 30 frames per second, a pullback speed of 0.5 mm per second, an in-plane resolution of 50-150 μm, and a slice resolution of about 0.5 to 1.0 mm. The real-time capabilities and the relative ease of use have made IVUS the method of choice for intravascular vessel characterization. However, IVUS is based on acoustic impedance and can, therefore, not offer the variety of contrast mechanisms available with MR. In many ways, MR image quality already seems superior to IVUS and the achievable in-plane resolution is almost comparable. However, to date, intravascular MRI has lagged behind IVUS in imaging speed.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional, traditional, and proposed approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems and methods with the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.